Law Firm Profile

In Truckee since 1979

"Estate planning is a gift to your family and loved ones."

Michael E. Graham • Attorney at Law

Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law for Over 40 years

Welcome to the Law Offices of Michael E. Graham, a small law firm focused exclusively on estate planning, trust and estate administration. Whether you need help creating a new estate plan, updating an existing plan, assisting others in declining health or administering a trust or estate, after the death of a loved one, we offer expert legal advice and service based on more than 40 years of legal experience. We offer caring and personal service to address issues in family dynamics involving succession to assets, long-term planning for young children or those with special needs, incapacity, illness or death. We assist you in finding practical solutions facing individuals and families in an area of complex and bewildering tax and probate laws. Our approach is designed to provide service that is positive, productive and results-oriented.

Michael E. Graham • Attorney at Law

Michael E. Graham is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. He was part of the first group of attorneys in California certified as specialists in 1990. He received his B.A., in Economics, from the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned his law degree in 1977 from the University of California, San Francisco, Hastings College of The Law. Mr. Graham was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1977 and to the State Bar of Nevada in 1985.

Michael E. Graham relocated to Truckee, California in 1979 after practicing law as an associate attorney with the San Francisco law firm of Low, Ball and Lynch. Michael was a partner in the law firm of Porter, Simon and Graham, in the early days of practice in Truckee, California, until he established a solo practice in 1994.

Mr. Graham is a member of the Tahoe Truckee Bar Association and served as a member of the Board of Directors, various officer positions, and as President of the Bar Association in 1986. He has been rated by his attorney peers with the "AV Preeminent” rating, which is the highest possible rating for professional excellence and ethical standards issued by Martidale-Hubbell, a nationally-recognized peer review organization.He is also a member of the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of California.

With respect to community organizations, Mr. Graham has served the Truckee Rotary Club as a member since 1980. He also served as an organizer and the incorporator of the Tahoe Truckee Excellence in Education Foundation in 1986, and has continued his service as legal counsel for the Foundation. Likewise, Mr. Graham has served as pro bono legal counsel to the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation and has participated in multiple legal seminars on estate planning sponsored by the Foundation.

Colleen McCarthy

Colleen McCarthy is a 1972 graduate of the Katharine Gibbs School, Boston, Massachusetts. Her legal career started as a corporate law Legal Assistant position, first with the Hale and Dorr law firm, and later with the Goodwin, Proctor & Hoar law firm, both at Boston, Massachusetts. Upon relocating to San Francisco, California, in 1977, she held (for the next 14 years) a probate and estate planning Legal Assistant position with the San Francisco law firm of Cooley, Godward, Castro, Huddleson & Tatum. Because of her love for the snow, in 1998 Colleen relocated to Truckee, with her then young daughter, Caitlin, and has been employed by the Law Offices of Michael E. Graham since then. Ms. McCarthy assists Mr. Graham in all areas of the specialized law practice involving estate planning, trust and probate administration, and business entities.

Alicia Phillips

Alicia Phillips joined the Law Offices of Michael E. Graham in 2006 and provides paralegal services, as well as administrative services to the firm. She is a Certified Paralegal and has over 35 years of legal experience as a paralegal/legal assistant, starting at Syntex, a pharmaceutical company, as a legal assistant to 3 patent attorneys and back­up assistant to the VP of the Patent Department and VP of Legal Affairs, and as administrative assistant for the Syntex PAC and the PAC attorney. Upon relocating to the Tahoe area, around 1996, prior to working for the law offices of Michael E. Graham, Ms. Phillips was employed by the Law Offices of Larry Hoffman,located in Tahoe City, California, the Caldwell Law Firm, in Incline Village, Nevada, and the Porter Simon law firm, in Truckee, California. Ms. Phillips assists Mr. Graham in all areas of the specialized law practice involving estate planning, trust and probate administration.